‘I was really disappointed when I opened the Guardian newspaper yesterday to see a rather grim picture of Corby’s town centre used to illustrate the problems being experienced by local businesses. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/23/doldrums-britain-jobs-blow-corby?INTCMP=SRCH)

A picture is worth a thousand words and the image used does not represent the Corby that I know and admire. My link with Corby started out as purely professional – my company worked with Catalyst Corby and later NNDC ‘selling’ the benefits of Corby to investors and potential house buyers. However, from the very beginning, I felt a great affinity with Corby– it reminded me of my hometown in Australia where the people were hard working, down to earth and ambitious for their futures. My parents once bought a house on a new housing estate with the ‘promise’ of a train station. It came 20 years later.

I was fortunate to watch many positive changes take place in Corby, including the re-instatement of the train station and line, the completion of the brilliant Olympic-size swimming pool, the Corby Cube commence construction and the rebuilding of the town centre. Many of these images could have been used to illustrate Corby’s reality.

Of course buildings are just the physical improvements – other improvements and changes occur in many other ways on a daily basis.

I would never suggest that the challenges facing Corby are not openly discussed and debated, but the use of outdated images to portray Corby as a ‘victim’ is unfair to everyone who lives and works in the area.’

Here is a video that offers an alternative point of view of Corby.

After a bit of digging, we discover that the potential client is often confused between ‘visual identity’ and ‘brand’.

Visual Identity is the company logo, look and feel – put simply, it’s how a company looks and the images that will lead to recognition by others. The answer is yes, we do guide clients through the corporate makeover process.

However, brand is entirely different – it cannot be outsourced – it is how your organisation behaves – what it says, does and how it acts. An outside agency can only help to highlight and manage ‘brand recognition’.

A good example of a ‘brand’ coming to life last week is mini-cab firm Addison Lee. Chairman, John Griffin outraged cyclists after he penned a very strongly worded opinion piece in his house magazine AddLib.

Why the hysterical reaction? Cyclists are not perfect and a reasoned debate is vital for all road users and pedestrians.

Well as a cyclist (and driver, pedestrian, public transport and taxi user) I have some insight. Griffin’s column merely highlighted what nearly every cyclist always suspected – that the Addison Lee group views cyclists as second class citizens. Why? It hasn’t been included on a logo or any ‘brand activity’ but it has been manifest in the way that many ‘Addi Lee’ drivers behave.

It may sound bizarre and it’s difficult to explain, but as a cyclist, you can actually ‘feel’ how a driver feels towards you. The rev of the engine, the lurch of the car, the inches that they leave when they whizz past you, are all indicators of aggression or impatience. I have long adopted a ‘defensive’ strategy when anywhere near a well branded people mover. Amongst cyclists, the Addi Lee ‘brand’ was perceived badly long before Griffin’s column. His column merely confirmed what cyclists already knew.

His challenge is to now demonstrate that the Addison Lee brand stands for something else (particularly if he wants legal access to bus lanes) and he is not merely ‘putting lipstick on the gorilla’.

We weren’t taken aback by most of the findings: of course, many professionals use the internet for work purposes, to find products and equipment, and of course, many professionals use mobiles to read their emails. What surprised us most was how hospitality professionals are limiting their use of social media channels.

83.8% of respondents said they’d used social networks to promote their business: 63.8% of those asked said they’d used Facebook and 57% had used Twitter for marketing. Yet, to find out more about the industry (away from promoting their products), just 35.7% were using social media’s biggest spy tool: Twitter.

For hospitality professionals, especially those who work in communications, Twitter is great for getting your followers up and being able to shout loud about your latest news and biggest deals. We don’t deny that – in fact, we preach it. Elsewhere though, it’s important to sit back and watch what Twitter has to offer: watch hospitality trends come alive by following the influencers; see what’s good and what’s bad in social media by following your competitors; and keep your eyes open to see what your competitors are up to…

In our agency, we’re attached at the hip to Twitter – you have to be. If you’re not making the most of Twitter already (which, if you’re a hospitality professional we can only assume 64.3% aren’t) you need to get online. You’ll be surprised how much it extends your network, and you’ll be impressed by how many windows it opens for you.

In my life as a PR, there are few subjects that cause as much stress and angst as the press release. Originally, the press release (or media release) was designed to provide journalists with timely facts and news. However, since the advent of email and digital media it has become the “camel” of communications, too often carrying the weight of collective expectations on
a journey with no apparent end in sight.

It is commonplace for dozens of people to be copied in and asked to contribute to a release previewing the most mundane of events.

There are several basic mistakes that many organisations make but you can avoid. Firstly, who are you targeting? If your news release is for news journalists, keep their needs at the heart of what you want to say. Don’t confuse the news release with an internal memo to the rest of the team or a newsletter to customers. They are very different pieces of communication.

Secondly, be brutally honest. Is your news remotely interesting to the audience of the publication you are sending it to? If you have won third prize in an obscure trade award, is it really of interest to a magazine? By all means tell your customers, put it on your website etc — but hold back from cheesing off a journalist with an overloaded inbox.

Thirdly, be timely. Sending a release a week after an event is not news. In fact, you will do more damage to your relationship with a journalist when they open a release, get interested and realise that the news is a week old. You have just wasted their time. This is often a tough one for architects as you often have to get approval from clients and other partners. If this is the case, then plan ahead — draft a release ahead of time so that you are not delayed by days as it pings back and forth during the approvals process.

Fourth, stick to the facts. The journalist is not interested in your hidden ambition to be a great writer. Cut the flowery prose and the witty headlines. Journalists do make snap decisions and sometimes get it wrong, but for the most part they have an excellent understanding of what their readers want. Trust them to be able to judge from the facts. It is vital to include key
statistics and clear information on who can be contacted for further information.

Finally, make sure you are available — sending a press release whilst simultaneously leaving for a far-flung holiday is not a good idea.

With the press regularly reporting that the job market is ‘closed for business’ and that unemployment rates are rising, we assumed we’d have lots of ready and prepared candidates.

Given this is reputedly the hardest job market to enter into in our time, we want to give job hunters a few handy tips on interview techniques and how they can make their first steps  into the world of PR:

• Plan to arrive around ten minutes early. There’s nothing worse than keeping an interviewer waiting and even worse is turning up without the time to compose yourself. (NB: ING MEDIA has three flights of stairs to scale before you reach us, arriving early will give you time to catch your breath)

• Introduce yourself with a hardy handshake – a weak handshake is a terrible way to introduce yourself. Instead, prove you’ve got the guts with a firm one.

• Know the job you’re going for, and if you’re not sure send an email ahead of the interview to make sure you know what it is. A good agency will have a job specification to send over, but feel free to ask questions about any of the points on it if it’s not clear.

• Make sure you’ve looked at the agency’s website so you know what they do. Don’t be afraid to prove you’ve taken a look before you’ve been questioned; name drop the clients; talk about the agency’s sectors; and pick out a blog post you liked (one written by the person interviewing always goes down a treat).

• Have an idea of the media and show examples of being engaged with it. You don’t need to have a favourite newspaper but, if you don’t, you need be able to say why. i.e. Do you prefer consuming news online? You’ll need to have an idea of the media if you want to work in the media, so don’t trip up before you’ve started.

• Be prepared to talk about non-traditional forms of media – don’t you know social networks are so in right now?

• Think about any questions you have for the people interviewing you, and don’t let nerves get the better of you when you ask. The interviewer may have covered all bases, but there’s always a question lurking – even if it’s to ask about the social life at the agency or the typical day for an intern.

• Give an opinion. You shouldn’t feel pressured to agree with everything an interviewer says: feel free to create a debate without causing an argument. Debate is better than the joy of static sound.

• Finally, show your enthusiasm! Why have you come to the interview if you didn’t want the job? If you’ve travelled from the US for your chance to work in our offices (as has happened), make sure you turn up with a smile and an eagerness to please. Tell the interviewer how much you want it, and follow up with an email to express your interest.

Keep an eye out for opportunities to work at ING MEDIA on our careers page, and do get in touch if you think you have something special to bring to the agency.

In a secreted nook of the city, moments from the splendour of St Paul’s, St Bride’s Church on Fleet Street remains one of Wren’s most prominent buildings and the tallest of all his City churches – yet the neglected state of its distinct layered spire and eroded stonework suggest differently. Without £2.5 million for crucial maintenance, this Grade I listed building might be forced to close – destroying the life of a historic building visited seven days a week by an active congregation of residents, local business people and visitors from around the world.

ING MEDIA is delighted to be supporting St Bride’s in a new campaign called the INSPIRE! Appeal to raise money from the congregation and visitors, as well as local businesses and the media, to help save this historical landmark. The appeal will be officially launched on 21^st March 2012, with a lecture by well-known Wren author and historian Adrian Tinniswood, and a dedicated fundraising working group has been set up under the chairmanship of Paul Finch OBE, Chairman of Design Council Cabe.

After the Great Fire of London, Wren was commissioned to design St Paul’s Cathedral along with 56 City Churches to replace those lost in the destruction – creating an exalting skyline of booming spires, 23 of which still remain to define the cityscape of our Capital today. Locked between the gilded corporate towers of Fleet Street, the enduring magnificence of St Bride’s still proclaims Wren’s presence within the City. Its elegant 226-foot high spire, famed to have inspired the traditional tiered wedding cake design, stretching skywards more than three centuries after its completion in 1703.

However, St Bride’s may have survived lightning attacks and WW2 firebombs, but centuries of erosion from weather, pollution and construction vibrations from the ever-changing city skyline have taken their toll. The church’s characteristic grey Portland limestone is streaked with decay and fractures, whilst shifting stonework and falling debris makes the area increasingly hazardous.

Sitting on the remains of seven previous churches dating back two thousand years, every inch of St Bride’s is alive with historical life. As part of our work on the campaign, ING MEDIA recently invited Kieran Long, architecture critic for the London Evening Standard for a tour of its secrets – a trip that took us from the depths of the crypts to the peak of the spire, from soil to sky. St Bride’s unveiled pieces of mosaic flooring from the Roman city, remnants of medieval foundations and the skeletal remains of hundreds of ancient Londoners – whilst panoramic views across London awaited us at the summit following an ascent through the darkened, spiralling stairways within the steeple.

Historically, London’s churchyards have played an influential role in our society, providing spheres for political, religious and intellectual engagement – something still visible in the news today, where demonstrations at St Paul’s Cathedral have transformed a site of contemplation and tourist admiration into a space of political agency. Five hundred years ago, St. Bride’s was at the centre of another form of social action – the dissemination of the written word – when William Caxton’s assistant, Wynkyn de Worde, brought England’s first moveable-type press to the churchyard in 1501.

Since then St Brides, or the ‘Cathedral of Fleet Street’ has developed a strong association with the print trade, with generations of British journalists and writers from Shakespeare to Dickens frequenting its grounds – and remains a vital presence within the publishing community today. As Kieran points out in his article, Wren’s church is a poignant reminder of the media’s connection with Fleet Street and during a time in which the voice of the media faces close public scrutiny, it might be beneficial to remind ourselves of the democratic importance of the published word.

History aside, the fact of its creation by one of the world’s greatest architects should be motive alone for its salvation. Wren has long been elevated to the status of national icon, his status within our national identity crystallised by the imprintation of his face on our currency – it’s a shame none of those banknotes weren’t ascribed to save his work. For despite our fetishism with the ‘cult of Wren’, not a single Wren society exists in the UK (unlike the US) and vital aspects of our British history are quietly crumbling into decay from within the very financial heart of our capital.

According to Adrian Tinniswood, Wren once wrote that ‘Architecture aims at eternity’, an ambitious notion considering the transient nature of today’s built environment – and yet, considering the power Wren’s work still retains over our nation, it is one that shouldn’t be dismissed. Kieran remarked that this is a place where the past and present are never too far apart, let’s hope we can help ensure it holds a future as well.

More than 100 representatives from across architecture, construction and property turned up to hear about some of the amazing work this charity is doing in Burkina Faso and Haiti. Presentations were short, interesting and – perhaps most importantly – varied. They included Olympic triple jumper Larry Achike sharing his thoughts on setting goals and Connie Henry from Track Academy a London-based educational, mentoring and sports charity who reminded the audience that there are worthwhile causes close to home that also need our support.

Plenty of time was given to the advertising activity – networking – but most of the post-presentation buzz seemed to be about how people could get involved. I certainly came away with a head full of ideas about how I and ING MEDIA could support the work of Article 25, and have already got a follow up meeting in the diary.

As memories of Christmas cheer and New Year celebrations recede and January draws to an end, it is important for businesses to retain a broad view and look ahead to 2012 with focus and ambition. In tough economic times it is even more important for architectural and design practices to establish themselves as distinct from their competitors and to ensure their public identity is supporting business goals.

Many architects see little distinction between the work they do across a wide range of building types. In terms of publicity this presents a problem – it’s much more straightforward to promote an outspoken education specialist than someone who just does everything. Architects must decide how to prioritise their business goals to be able to communicate a clear message. What makes you different from the rest of the marketplace? By focusing on two or three key sectors and targeting specific media accordingly, your chances of long term success are vastly improved.

Architectural PR is not just about peer review and having each project studied in the monthly trade press. This is important, but equally important is the ability to penetrate outside the sphere of architecture and design and into both the mainstream press and sector specialists, be it health, education, retail or workplace. What are the reasons that the buildings you are designing are being built in the first place? These are the issues that will connect you to the world outside the architectural bubble.

A good communications strategy is internal as well as external. If a strong sense of identity runs through the practice, the easier it is to communicate to the world. If your employees feel proud to share the company ethos they become your natural publicity agents and furthermore this will ring true to the outsider. That said, it is important to identify key spokespeople who are experts in their field and can build a company’s reputation in target sectors. Don’t be scared to have a voice – be guided by your principles and you will stand out from the crowd.

Whether you carry out public relations in house or out source to an agency such as ING MEDIA, an important psychological barrier to overcome is about making time for public relations. The PR strategy should be a fundamental aspect of your business plan and its fulfilment should be a natural extension of your everyday work not a chore to be dealt with at some point in the future.

There is no public relations wand that you can wave for instant success. It takes graft. It is about building personal relationships with the media, making connections between your projects, your clients and the world around you. Think beyond yourself, be generous, engage with not only the design community but the public at large. Invite that journalist who mentioned you to lunch. Informal, low-pressure settings are the best places to build relationships.

A PR strategy can be implemented in a number of ways and a careful consideration of what channel is appropriate for a specific task is key. Social media is a burgeoning area for architects, with many websites now conforming to the ‘blog effect’, eschewing the wizzy graphic for quality text context that is updated regularly. This not only maximises search engine optimisation (SEO) but makes for an engaging user experience. A social media strategy can be a natural extension of this blog-like approach and an opportunity to make your voice heard in the landscape.

With any new client we will start by undergoing an intensive audit of the practice’s work, philosophy, business plan and marketing and media activity. Competition for work will be fierce in 2012 and I urge all architectural practices to take a step back, decide what is important and integrate pro-active PR and communications into the everyday life of architectural practice.

 Short term, the strategy worked: tables were filled and even celebrities and sports stars took advantage of cut-price deals.

 It seemed like a win-win situation; consumers were able to afford life’s little luxuries at lesser costs, and suppliers could boost footfall and hopefully maintain a steady stream of trade during a difficult time. 

However, the market is now experiencing the aftermath of the surge in popularity of these kinds of discounts. The longer term effects are not as rosy and for suppliers and consumers alike, it is becoming clear that there really is no such thing as a free lunch.

There is a growing choice of outlets supplying the voucher fix, each sending tempting daily messages straight to email inboxes. Despite recent complaints and subsequent controversies involving  small businesses and an OFT investigation around alleged advertising infringements, Groupon is still the biggest player, with over 142 million global subscribers across 45 countries, and over 1,000 deals each day.

 In a typical deal model, the discount provider takes a 50% cut from the businesses it features – but often only showcases deals that offer a minimum 50% reduction in the first place. This means that businesses will get 25% of the full price of their goods or services, at best.

Such discounts have ensured “voucherholics”, who rarely find themselves without a voucher for even the smallest of everyday purchases, are a growing breed. Consumers have now become accustomed to paying less with an increasing number resolved not to pay full price for almost anything.

However,  although understandably addictive, many of these so-called “deals” don’t always offer value for customers with businesses often forced to provide a lesser service simply to cope with the demand. 

Far from its intended purpose, discounting can weaken a brand, particularly those within the high-end, quality food & restaurant sector. A lower price alters consumer perception and market position, and can even encourage customer disloyalty as they strive to seek out their next bargain deal. 

While slashing prices might seem like a good way to entice new customers to try a brand, it can be detrimental in the long run, and weaning consumers off cheap deals is virtually impossible.

At ING MEDIA, our experience tells us that it is often better to use strategies such as offering a consistent, quality product or service at a fair, transparent price, and rewarding customers for loyalty rather than offering deals. As explained in our Life After Launch post, the best PR campaigns consider long-term objectives – which discount vouchers may not.

This is a common concern we hear from potential new clients who have lost confidence with their previous PR agency, and have come to us for advice.

One of the most important lessons any PR will learn is that a campaign isn’t about a brief flurry of activity followed by a long dry spell but it’s about a long-term vision.  A successful PR campaign should secure coverage throughout the life cycle of the campaign, not just at its beginning.  It should provide a steady ‘drip feed’ of media coverage, delivering a constant flow of news, comment and announcements that strengthens, expands and embeds a brand and its key messages firmly in the psyche of its target audience.

We work with olive oil collective Nudo Adopt an olive tree.  The company officially launched back in 2005, and instantly received a high level of coverage. The story behind the brand, its lucrative range of olive oils and its unique Adopt an olive tree concept was brand-new, fresh and ‘newsworthy’ and catapulted the brand into the consumer sphere.

Seven years on, this story was no longer deemed new and it was our job to create fresh ideas to help the company take the ‘next step’. ING MEDIA used its ‘LeanBrand’ approach to ensure communications are clearly focused on Nudo’s business objectives.

Through targeted media relations, product placement, event planning, social media management and a partnership opportunity with leading patissier Will Torrent for National Baking Week, ING MEDIA achieved more than 100 pieces of print and online coverage across consumer and trade media in an six-month period.

More importantly, these results translated into sales success (July-Dec 2011 – 10):

•  48.6% increase in transactions
• 38.24% increase in Nudo adopt an olive tree sales
• 30.73% increase in year on year total online sales (£)  
• Prominent national coverage over the weekend (3^rd-5^th Dec 2011) saw a 75% jump in UK sales (Daily Mail – Weekend, Mail on Sunday – Live & Daily Express)

This approach relies on ING MEDIA’s creativity, industry know-how, a formidable journalist contact base, and drive in developing and reacting to the media agenda.  This provides content that genuinely offers something new and interesting, and assures a client of maximum return on investment.